CAM Panel's Chair Responds in the Washington Post

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
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Thanks to the Washington Post for permission to reproduce this article!

INTERACTIONS

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

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The article "Alternative Health Panel Under Attack" [March 19] suggests I was "dismayed" by "critics" of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, which I had the honor to chair. The quoted "critics," including Stephen Barrett, were repeatedly and cordially invited to present their views to the commission -- and almost all, including Barrett, declined to participate in a collegial scientific inquiry.

What did indeed dismay me was The Washington Post's uncritical acceptance of these people's accusations against a commission that worked very hard for 20 months to fulfill a presidential and bipartisan congressional mandate: to make legislative and administrative recommendations to help ensure that the American people have access to the potential benefits of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and are protected from its limitations and hazards.

The "dissent" on the commission referred to in the article was not, in fact, a dissent. Two commissioners (out of a diverse group of 20) issued a "statement" which has been incorporated in the report. The points of view expressed in the statement were repeatedly heard in meetings (transcripts are at http://whccamp.hhs.gov) and, I believe, were well represented in a number of sections of the report. These two commissioners also assented, in public sessions, to all of the commission's recommendations, as the transcripts show.

Further, in addition to many experts in CAM, a variety of mainstream American medical organizations -- from the American Medical Association and the Federation of State Medical Boards, to the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Care Financing Administration and the National Institutes of Health -- testified in a thoughtful and constructive way, and contributed substantially to the final report. The report reflects their and others' emphasis on the need to scientifically investigate complementary and alternative therapies to find out if they are safe and effective and cost-effective; the necessity for the federal government to provide easily accessible, authoritative information about these approaches to the American people; and the need for collaboration among conventional and CAM researchers, clinicians and organizations.

I would also like to correct a misrepresentation attributed to Barrett in the article. The article states that I may have "collaborated" with a religious cult leader whose followers poisoned 750 people. I did not collaborate with anyone in the poisoning of any human being. I have, for 35 years, been a practicing physician working to understand and be helpful to others and upholding my professional oaths. I am dismayed that The Post would print such an unsubstantiated and irresponsible charge.

I am also dismayed that the reporter does not appear to have read articles I suggested to her, which I have written for many publications, including The Washington Post, that address my studies of cults. I have researched and written about a number of dangerous, and benign, cults and new religions, spiritual groups and therapeutic practices, as well as my own medical and psychotherapeutic work with children and adults in the United States and Kosovo. Congress initially requested many of these studies, which I began in the 1970s when I was a research psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Finally, at a time when the incidence of chronic illness among Americans is rising, and health care costs are predicted to double in the next 10 years, it is vital that all of us work together to find better ways to enhance the American people's health and treat our illnesses. The White House commission's work was to explore ways that CAM therapies, properly evaluated and thoughtfully integrated into our health care system, could help accomplish this goal. I invite The Washington Post and other major publications to carefully and respectfully report on and assess the road map for enhancing our health care created by the commission report.

James S. Gordon, M.D.

Chair, White House Commission
on Complementary and Alternative
Medicine Policy
Washington

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Since 3-28-2002